Parents and homeowners today told how their night was disturbed by the “big bang” of a gunshot fired at a neighbour’s home in Toxteth.

One lady said she nearly fell off her settee as the noise shocked her so much, and admitted she was worried after a property on St Lawrence Close, Toxteth, was fired at.

The shooting was the third in less than a week in the streets surrounding Park Road and Merseyside Police said officers were looking to see if the incidents are linked.

This morning police cars were parked on both Park Road, near the Tesco Extra, and in St Lawrence Close. A cordon remained in place surrounding a grassy, tree covered patch of land on Park Road, behind the St Lawrence Close property that was hit in what police believe was a targeted attack.

Neighbours told the ECHO they heard a single gunshot just before 10pm on Thursday night, with police cars filling the small cul-de-sac.

One said: “I just heard a big bang and I thought ‘God knows what that was’ so I just stayed in. It was scary to tell the truth because I didn’t know what was going on. It’s quiet around here, it’s lovely. I think there was about five or six police cars in the close. I just heard the big bang and it was really frightening and I nearly fell off the settee.”

A dad who lives in one of the side streets on the other side of Park Road added his daughter had heard the gunfire, likening it to “fireworks”, while other neighbours said the shooting was “worrying” - particularly as it followed similar incidents this week.

On Tuesday, officers sealed off a stretch of Moses Street, off Park Road, after shots were fired through the front window of a house at around 2.55pm.

Two days earlier, at around 11.55pm on Sunday, a shotgun was fired through the window of a house in nearby Kinnaird Street in a targeted attack.

Following last night’s incident, a spokesman for Merseyside Police said: “Officers attended and found damage to a rear window of a property consistent with a shotgun discharge. No one was injured during the incident.

“The scene was sealed for forensic examination, house-to-house enquiries are underway and patrols have been stepped up in the area.

An investigation into the full circumstances of the incident is underway. At this stage the incident is believed to be targeted and enquiries are on-going to see if the incident is linked to any other recent firearm incidents.”